Unleashing The Power Of Rubber Bands (17 page)

It is so easy to mistake well known for better, and renown for expert. It isn’t so. And since most of us lead out of the spotlight, we need to remind ourselves that leadership right where we are is desperately important. Being in the top 1 percent is much too narrow a place to call success. Don’t wait to get famous to get good.

Your best leadership efforts are needed on a daily basis, right where you are.

So whatever that takes, do it. Get out the rubber bands, the books, and the Post-it notes. Stretch them, read them, post them. And start by convincing yourself that leadership matters.

Faith is a vision that our destiny is to be absorbed

in a tremendously creative team effort,

with unimaginably splendid leadership,

on an inconceivably vast plane of activity,

with ever more comprehensive cycles of productivity and enjoyment—

and that is what eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

that was before us in the prophetic vision.

DALLAS WILLARD

About the Author

Nancy Ortberg is a founding partner of Teamworx2, a business and leadership consulting firm that provides fast-paced, practical, and compelling sessions to leaders and their teams. Teamworx2 works with businesses, schools, nonprofits, and churches to address issues of organizational effectiveness and teamwork.

A former teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, Nancy has spoken at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Catalyst, the Leadership Forum, the Telecare Leadership Conference, the Omnicell Leadership Conference, the Rethink Conference, and the Orange conference. She is also a consulting partner for Patrick Len-cioni, president of the Table Group and best-selling author of
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Nancy and her husband, John, live in the Bay Area and have three children, Laura, Mallory, and Johnny.

Acknowledgments

Collective efforts always yield something more magnificent than those made by a single person. This book is no exception, and is much better for the fingerprints of Carol, Kathy, Lisa, Elizabeth, Ron, and Jennifer at Tyndale House Publishers. I am grateful for your belief, encouragement, and vast efforts.

To the many, many wonderful mentors in leadership I have had over the years. To Jamie Barr, Max DePree, Barbara Harrison, Bill Hybels, Nancy Beach, Dick Anderson, Russ Robinson, Patrick Lencioni, Amy Hiett, Jeff Gibson, and David Simpson, to name a few—I am daily and eternally grateful.

And to John, Laura, Mallory, and Johnny, who inspire and delight me on a regular basis.